Chapter 104: Ladder Strategy
A/N: Hey guys,
Here's today's first chapter. I uploaded the map of the future territories of the new kingdom on my pàtreon. It is public so everyone could see it. It is not proffisional. I just made it so everyone could follow up.
For every two new pàtreons, I will upload one more chapter the next day.
Thanks for your support.
You can read up to 25 advanced chapters on my pàtreon.
https://www.pàtreon.com/Gnanaa
Enjoy.
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"That is a reckless move, Edward." Said the silent since the start, Stannis. He was getting a headache because of his brother these days. Not only did his brother kill the lords in such a cruel way, but he would attack The Reach as well without leaving many soldiers to protect Stormsland. At the moment, Edward was calling Shadow Legion company as well.
"Don't worry, Stannis. They would not be involved in the fights. I have the responsibility to protect our lands as well. We took most of our men here, and we don't have enough men to protect Stormsland at the moment so that those men would protect the lands for us. I stationed one thousand near Storm's End. Another three in Kingswood while the other three would go to Summerhall to protect it in case Dorne sided with the Iron Throne." Said Edward as he put the wooden pieces that represented the Shadow Legion Company in three places.
Stannis did not look calm after hearing what his brother said. He could not trust those filthy mercenaries and could not bring himself to calm down. He thought that they might cause trouble in Stormsland instead.
When Edward looked at him, he could only shake his head. How could he tell Stannis that the Shadow Legion Company was actually his men? Plus, with the way Robb Stone disciplined them, there was no way they would dare do something like that.
"I would meet Mace Tyrell and his army with twenty thousand men. Robert would ride with me on that. Uncle Heldon, you would go back to Storm's End and act as the Castellan and send Lance back here. He is needed more. When we reach Summoning Hall; and the Dornish marches lords join us, we would have nearly fifty-four thousand men. Stannis, Roben, Benjamin, and Brown would each take five thousand men and takedown Grassy Vale, Tumbleton, Bitterbridge, and Longtable, respectively. Flip would take fourteen thousand men and takedown Goldengrove. You would stay there and defend it against any Lannister's attack after taking it. Elbert and Lance would join me in the battle against Mace Tyrell." Said Edward getting a nod from anyone. No one could match Edward in Strategy amongst them, so they would not voice their concern.
Only Stannis looked uncertain. He knew his brother's excellence and all, but he did not understand why Edward would divide his men like that. If he could use the who army, he would crush the Reach's army with ease.
Edward knew this problem as well. He was going to face Randyll Tarly soon, but he could only do something like that. Due to his actions, he had solved Stormsland's problems which meant that Owen Merryweather's plans had failed and Aerys would replace him soon. The cunt, Jon, would hear about what happened to his house sooner or later and would launch his attack at once when he got appointed as the hand. He had to end his battle in the Reach as soon as he could. That was the reason he divided his men to attack six places at the same time. He would take the other locations by surprise while he defeated Mace Tyrell and Randyll Tarly in Ashford, taking it in the process. He estimated that he had about two months maximum before Aerys began to act and appoint Jon as the hand. Till this moment, Edward was only attacking The Reach, which did not affect Aerys much, so Aerys did not take The Rebellion seriously.
Due to Edward's interference, some events did not happen. Lyanna did not like Rhaegar, and so she did not spend much time in Harrenhal with him but instead decided to travel to Riverrun after ten days of the tourney since she wanted to spend some time in the city. Her brother Brandon left for Riverrun after Edward punched Rhaegar to spend time with his betrothed. Lysa Arryn did not have time to sleep with Littlefinger and carry his baby. Since Brandon did not go to King's Landing, Rickard Stark took a month to reach King's Landing and another week for his trial. The assassination of Brandon and the group took place a month later. King Aerys's orders were sent another week later to Jon Arryn, and three weeks had passed since then.
After estimating the time, All Edward could do is nod his head to Stannis to ask him to trust his brother. He did not have much time for hesitation.
After they finished their discussion, Edward led everyone to march to Summoning Hall, from where they would launch their attack on the Reach. It took only two days to reach The Castle, where they met Lord Dondarrion and Lord Caron. The two had been guarding The Castle since the time they received Stannis's letter.
After discussing the plan with the two, It was finally time to execute the plan. Edward decided to wait for a week till Lance came back from Storm's End. Lance was the best horserider he had, so he needed him to lead cavalry who were much needed to execute his plans.
After Lance came back from Storm's End, Edward started to move. He led Robert, Lance, Elbert, and twenty thousand men to Ashford. It took them another three days to reach the town. Edward decided to choose the location of the battle. Since the Reach was all flat land, there was not much terrain to use. So Edward asked his men to rest before organizing themselves. It did not take long before the Reach's army reached their location there. They were twenty-seven thousand men with Mace Tyrell and Randyll Tarly as the leaders. Mace was an idiot, and Edward did not put him in his eyes. But Randyll was on another level. Although Everyone said that he was on Tywin's level, Edward doubted that. He saw that Tywin was better than Randyll, but not that much. Seeing that Edward's army had rested, he decided to build his fortifications and organize his army as well.
Edward looked at the Reach's army and asked his men to prepare the war tent. They would need to discuss the final details of the war before attacking.
Soon, the two armies started marching against each other. Edward decided to use the Ladder tactic.
The cavalry would maneuver, and they all would shift their location to attack from the left-wing after the armies started marching while the right-wing, under the leadership of Elbert, would retreat a little by little. The center would advance but at a slower rate than the left.
This tactic would allow the left-wing of Edward's army to battle with the right-wing of the Reach's army. And using the cavalry, war chariots, and elite troops in the left-wing, they would manage to create a hole in The Reach's right-wing's formation. By the time the left-wing of the Reach's army finally reached Edward's right-wing, Edward's left-wing and center would have already surrounded the center of the Reach's army. The headquarter of the Reach would have fallen in their hands before any heavy damage happened.
Not seeing such a tactic before, Randyll Tarly could only tell his horsemen to follow Edward's. He wanted to stop them before they executed their plan. His plan could have worked if he asked his center to advance a little more than the right-wing. He would have managed to trap Edward's cavalry by doing so. But unfortunately for him, Edward had war chariots that would cut the horses' legs when they passed through. Although the war chariots were not of much use in Stormsland because of the bad terrain, they were the best killers in The Reach.